CONCORD, NC – With a special NAPA Auto Parts 100th Anniversary livery on his Toyota GR Supra, three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps raced to a runner-up finish at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals on Sunday afternoon. Guided by crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli, Capps fired off a 3.92-second pass at 327.51 mph in a Funny Car final quad that saw all four competitors race down the zMAX Dragway strip together. It was the second runner-up finish in five races for the Ron Capps Motorsports driver and team owner.

When Capps rolled to the ready line for the first qualifying session on Friday, he became the first of his NAPA-backed auto racing teammates to debut the centennial-themed scheme. Founded in 1925, NAPA was at the forefront of the transportation revolution, laying the groundwork for the automotive aftermarket of today. All NAPA-backed motorsports teams will run similar commemorative schemes on or around NAPA’s May 4th anniversary to mark a century of innovation, dedication, and community support from America’s largest network of parts and care.

Capps stayed in the 3-second range through all four qualifying sessions. Despite a dropped cylinder, he posted a 3.928-second pass at 320.05 mph in the opening session to sit 10th. He made a move toward the centerline in his second attempt but still improved to a 3.867 E.T. at 310.41 mph. Antonelli sent Capps on the third-quickest pass of the third qualifying session, a 3.975 E.T., to earn a bonus point. Capps then wrapped up qualifying with a 3.937-second pass, ending up No. 6 going into race day. Continue reading →

BROWNSBURG, IN – The Ron Capps Motorsports team will roll into this weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte with a brand-new look as NAPA celebrates its upcoming 100th anniversary.

Founded in 1925, NAPA was at the forefront of the transportation revolution, laying the groundwork for the automotive aftermarket industry of today. With the anniversary of the founding of NAPA taking place on May 4th, all NAPA-backed motorsports teams will run commemorative one-off liveries on or around that date to mark a century of innovation, dedication, and community support from America’s largest network of parts and care.

Each team’s entry will sport a similar centennial scheme, featuring a uniform look across multiple racing disciplines, which includes the NASCAR Cup Series (Chase Elliott), NASCAR Truck Series (Daniel Hemric), High Limit Sprint Car Series (Brad Sweet), and Ron Capps, driver of the NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Capps will be the first among NAPA’s roster of drivers to reveal his celebratory paint scheme. Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS – Unseasonably warm conditions at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway surprised competitors like three-time Funny Car world champion Ron Capps, who hazed the tires in his first-round quad on Sunday. Capps struggled in qualifying but rallied in the final session in his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra to bump into the field on Saturday. Traction issues plagued him once again on race day, resulting in a first-round exit. It was an outing Capps is ready to move past, instead focusing on exciting short and long-term developments for his Ron Capps Motorsports team.

Before hitting the track, Capps went into team owner mode as he announced that Top Alcohol Funny Car championship contender Maddi Gordon will join Ron Capps Motorsports in 2026. The third-generation driver is set to make the move to a Top Fuel dragster as RCM expands to a two-car team next season. Gordon got to experience her first-ever nitro warmup on Friday when she warmed up Capps’ NAPA Auto Care machine before the first qualifying session. Gordon went on to hoist the Four-Wide Nationals Top Alcohol Funny Car Wally on Sunday afternoon, earning her second career national event victory.

Once qualifying began, Capps ran into traction issues in both of Friday’s sessions and ended the day sitting on the outside of the top 16. On Saturday, he was on a promising pass in the third session before a quick move to the right forced Capps to lift off the throttle. His 4.279-second pass at 221.85 mph was quick enough to get into the field, but only by one position – he went into the final session on the bump spot. Crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli put together a conservative 4.055 E.T. at 313.88 mph in the final session, which was enough to move Capps solidly into the field in the No. 10 spot. Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS, NV – Three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps plans to expand his team in 2026, adding a second car and driver to his Ron Capps Motorsports (RCM) operation. As Capps has hinted at for months, he confirmed today that rising star Maddi Gordon will pilot a Top Fuel dragster for the RCM team next year and beyond. Gordon is a third-generation drag racer who has been making a name for herself thanks to her outstanding performance serving in dual roles as both driver and crew member on her family’s Top Alcohol Funny Car. To commemorate this partnership, Gordon will warm up Capps’s NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra this weekend during the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In her first year of driving the Alcohol car, Gordon became the 100th woman in NHRA history to win a national event. She also nabbed three regional wins in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, finishing second in national points, an impressive season that even most veteran drag racers would envy. So far in 2025, Gordon, who is responsible for the clutch and jumps in to assist with engine work when needed, sits third in national points and has already captured a regional win in Phoenix.

“This has been in the works for a while now,” remarked Capps, a 31-year nitro pilot. “When Snake (Don Prudhomme) brought me up to the pros, I was lucky enough to be given that shot despite not already having a sponsor attached. It’s rare, these days, for funding not to be part of the equation, especially when you’re building a new team. Continue reading →

POMONA, CA – Just days after a violent crash in the first round of eliminations at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, Ron Capps and his NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team were back in action at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. A cross-country trip and days of thrashing paid off, as Capps went to the provisional No. 1 spot Friday at Pomona and ended up No. 3 in the stout field in his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra. An unlikely instance of near-immediate tire smoke in Sunday’s first round of eliminations prevented Capps from moving on, but the fourth-year driver and team owner found victory in his team’s ability to bounce back.

The Ron Capps Motorsports team’s effort after the Phoenix crash started with pulling out the backup car and preparing it for Pomona. Meanwhile, the team transported its spare chassis and body from Brownsburg, Indiana, to Pomona, where they got the car put together, scaled, warmed up, and race-ready should it get called into action at any point during the Winternationals.

“Talk about ‘NAPA Know How,’” Capps said. “It’s really incredible what this NAPA Auto Care team did when you think about what they put together this week on a few days’ notice, then to send me down the track at over 330 mph and be the provisional No. 1 qualifier, you can’t script that.” Continue reading →

POMONA, CA – Five days after suffering a violent crash that destroyed his primary race car at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, Ron Capps and his NAPA Auto Care team rebounded impressively on Friday at the NHRA Winternationals, recording the quickest run of each session to score the provisional pole after the first day of qualifying for the third event on the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Series schedule.

Right out of the gate, Capps rocketed down the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in 3.852 seconds at 330.47 mph to collect three bonus points and put himself in the No. 1 spot. Capps and his Dean “Guido” Antonelli-led team returned to the starting line for the second session and once again clocked the quickest run of the round – a 3.830 at 328.94 – to bank another three bonus points and secure their spot at the top of the Funny Car timing sheet heading into day two of qualifying.

“I’ve bragged about our team so many times, but I’ve got to give it to these guys,” said Capps. “We have a backup car that’s ready to run. If we had won that round (on Sunday in Phoenix) and needed to be ready to go, we have a backup car that we can pull out, and it’s ready to race. That being said, we knew we had a car that was ready to run here in Pomona, but they actually had someone bring out another car from the shop back in Indy, which was the (Don Prudhomme) “Snake” Army tribute car, the body, that we ran last year at the U.S. Nationals and our 2022 world championship chassis. So, these guys, they’ve barely slept. They basically built two cars this week. They never complained and just kept powering through. To unload with that car and make that run in the very first session was pretty incredible.” Continue reading →

CHANDLER, AZ – A high-speed explosion at Firebird Motorsports Park sent Ron Capps into the retaining wall in the first round of eliminations at the NHRA Arizona Nationals Sunday morning, destroying Capps’ NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car. Capps emerged from the wreckage unscathed, though, in a testament to the safety advancements in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series nitro ranks. It was a dramatic first-round exit for Capps, who raced to a runner-up finish at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals and then won the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge of the season on Saturday.

Capps and crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli went to the top five in Friday’s opening qualifying session with a 3.995-second pass at 314.90 mph to sit fifth. He moved up a spot with a 3.912 E.T. at 323.50 mph in the second session to end the day in the No. 4 spot. Thanks to his final-round finish at the season opener, Capps took part in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge in the third qualifying session. He laid down a 3.988 E.T. at 314.24 mph – the fifth-quickest pass of the session – to defeat Alexis DeJoria. In the final qualifying session and the #2Fast2Tasty final round, Capps and opponent Matt Hagan left the starting line together before Capps powered to a winning 3.989-second pass at 318.24 mph. It was Capps’ fourth #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge win. Continue reading →

CHANDLER, AZ – In front of a sellout crowd at Firebird Motorsports Park, Funny Car star Ron Capps raced to victory in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge. Behind the wheel of his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra, Capps defeated Alexis DeJoria and Matt Hagan to land in the winners circle for this race-within-a-race at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, earning the first #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season which comes with a $10,000 check and three valuable championship bonus points.

The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season is off to a good start for Capps. Two weeks ago, he finished runner-up at the season opener in Gainesville, Fla., qualifying him for this specialty race. The challenge features the four competitors who reached the semifinals at the previous event, offering the possibility of a little taste of redemption during qualifying on Saturday.

Competing in front of packed grandstands further buoyed the NAPA team and driver as Capps noted the dedication of the local fans in Arizona. Continue reading →

GAINESVILLE, FL – One month after winning the SCAG PRO Superstar Shootout preseason event, three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps kicked off his 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series campaign by racing to the final round of the NHRA Gatornationals. Battling ever-changing weather conditions all weekend at Gainesville Raceway, Capps in his new-look Carlyle Tools Toyota GR Supra qualified third before turning on three win lights on his way to the final round. Capps, who kicked off his fourth season as a team owner, is now second in the Funny Car points standings.

Capps was on the outside looking in after the first qualifying session when he smoked the tires early in the run. He quickly moved on from that, though, as he threw down a 3.857-second pass at 335.73 in the second session to move up to the third spot. It was the third-quickest pass of the session, giving Capps one bonus point. When rain washed away Saturday’s two planned qualifying sessions, Capps locked in his No. 3 spot going into Sunday eliminations. Continue reading →

BROWNSBURG, IN – Fueled by passion, drive, and now, a carefully crafted energy drink that utilizes premium natural ingredients, three-time Funny Car world champion Ron Capps is amped up and ready to roar into the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season thanks to the addition of F3 Energy to his growing list of Ron Capps Motorsports partners.

Capps, the Funny Car category’s winningest active racer, announced today a multi-year major associate agreement with F3 Energy, an innovative line of energy drinks designed to support mental acuity, focus, and physical performance. Becoming involved in NHRA Drag Racing, the most extreme motorsport in the world, is a natural fit for F3, which was founded in 2022 and first entered the market through partnerships with UFC and MMA fighters before expanding into other high-adrenaline sports properties such as Professional Bull Riders and motocross. While F3’s partnership with Capps and his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car team is the brand’s first foray into high-speed straight-line racing, F3 is no stranger to motorsports, having also recently ventured into IndyCar. Continue reading →